The Drummer and the Keeper

This movie kept me spellbound, a difficult feat (believe me). Both of the main characters, one with bipolar and the other with Asperger's, were entirely credible, amazingly so, as was the (rocky) development of their friendship. Heartwarming, yes, but painful at times also. Good music too. But this is an Irish production and the accents are sometimes difficult to follow. While I stuck with it (and am very glad I did so), it would have been a relief to be able to turn on subtitles!

A heartwarming and enjoyable tale, told well and clearly with love and tenderness with genuine comedy and heart. Well worth a watch.

I had the pleasure of seeing this wonderful movie at it's very first public screening at the Galway Film Festival and I was blown away. It's so captivating, funny, real, true to life with an emotional build in it that you cannot fail to connect with & be drawn into . The relationship between Gabriel & Christopher is so engrossing as on their own, they struggle to navigate their very different worlds but find a way to cope & move forward once their worlds cross paths & their friendship (with all its ups & downs) takes centre stage.

I have to also mention the music & how powerful it was throughout the movie. It was never overbearing but always there enhancing the feelings that maybe sometimes the characters were struggling to convey themselves.

The writer & director, Nick Kelly did such an amazing job with this. When I watched it on the big screen that evening, I could not believe it was his debut feature film. There are surely great things on the horizon for Nick as a creative force in the film industry. The prolonged & emotional standing ovation the movie got after that debut screening was something I had never witnessed or been a part of before & will not forget soon.

I really could not recommend this film more. Go and watch it, you won't regret it.

I picked this small film to watch by myself on a whim, and I was very pleasantly surprised-- not by the script or filmmaking itself necessarily, but by how much I was charmed by and grew invested in the characters, and was very gladly pulled along for their tumultuous ride. When you hear the story which is about an unlikely friendship (and the surrounding trials/tribulations) between a drummer with bipolar and a young man institutionalized for Asperger's... you can probably guess how it goes. The plot is nothing too surprising, and a lot of the pacing of the movie is what I would call expected. However, I don't think this all detracts from the heart of the movie, which I felt was is in the relationship between the two main characters. Both actors do a wonderful job, and create really endearing and emotionally vulnerable characters. The payoff at the climax and end of it all feels really well deserved as a result.

I did feel that the portrayals and discussion of the disorders/syndromes themselves were a little lacking in depth, but I don't think I was expecting a groundbreakingly sensitive exploration. But it doesn't feel like a pity party or grotesque fetishization of mental illness, which I commend, as many movies throughout history about such topics do just that. Much of the weaker plot points stemmed from this lack of depth, however, so I recommend educating yourself on bipolar and Asperger's before or after watching so you can dispel lingering stereotypes and generalizations on your own (bipolar doesn't look the same for everyone, and neither does Asperger's or autism). The film to its credit does a great job in building the complex humanity of the characters, so they do not feel like walking tropes of their disorders. They felt real, very believable, and very relatable. In the end, the film tries its best with a limited budget and succeeds in the ways that ultimately matter most for the relationship and development of its characters. I'm not sure where else to watch it if you live outside of Ireland/Europe, but if you are on a long flight with a stopover in Dublin, give this movie a watch :)

We saw this movie at the Capitol Irish Film Festival sponsored by Solas Nua and the American Film Institute. The friendship which is at the core of this film---between a rock drummer with bi-polar and a young man with Aspergers--who meet up on the football field (soccer, in the U.S.)---is as unlikely as it is life-changing. I couldn't help but be reminded of a long ago children's picture book by Barbara Cooney, called "Miss Rumphius" in which the title character talked about we all must do something to make the world a more beautiful place. Nick Kelly has done that with this film.